STAND-IN skipper Graeme Murty paid tribute to his Reading team-mates for their battling display at Wigan before joining up with the Scotland Future squad.

STAND-IN skipper Graeme Murty paid tribute to his Reading team-mates for their battling display at Wigan before joining up with the Scotland Future squad.

Royals right back, who joins Scott Murray in the Scottish squad to play Turkey at Dundee United's Tannadice tomorrow night, said: "The whole team played so well. Wigan are quite a hard team to play against, but we played with a lot of heart, lots of commitment and everyone from the big man in goal to Fozzy up front played their part.

"You can't come to places like Wigan and carry anyone.

"We came up here against a good side and have now moved above them. We had a gameplan and the manager (Steve Coppell) said at half-time that we were hurting them with our pace on the break.

"With Fozzy's sharpness and Andy Hughes up there it's so hard to defend against and there was not a lot they could do about it. Fozzy is critical of himself. He says he should have got a hat-trick and that shows what kind of guy he is.

"We were under a lot of pressure in the second half but we limited them, people were putting their heads in the way.

"John Mackie even broke his nose - although that was Bas Savage who did that.

"He wasn't happy and just kept swearing, but it just shows the character that is in this squad."